The use of mass soldering techniques to attach electrical components to a common support structure is well known. One exemplary process is that known as wave soldering; others are known. One common support is a printed circuit board; others are known. Various types of electrical components, such as connectors, sockets and the like, provide interconnecting electrically conductive paths on or in a printed circuit board. These components electrically interconnect other electrical components or elements, such as resistors, capacitors, conductors, transistors, integrated circuits, etc.
The invnetion is described below with reference to a female type header that provides a socket for receiving pin contacts from another connector or other component for connecting the same to circuits on a printed circuit board. The description is directed to use of such a header and circuit board in a wave soldering process. However, it will be appreciated that the features of the invention may be used in connection with other types of components, other types of common support structures, other types of mass soldering techniques, and so on.
In a typical process for manufacture circuitry employing a printed circuit board with components mounted on the board and wave soldered, the leads or solder tails (hereinafter simply referred to as solder tails) of electrical components are positioned in respective holes, preferably plated-through holes, in the printed circuit board. The plating in the holes is electrically connected to respective conductive paths or the like, printed on or otherwise formed with respect to the printed circuit board. The printed circuit board is passed through a molten solder wave that wipes against a surface of the printed circuit board to solder the connections between the solder tails and plated-through holes or other conductive paths or the like on the board.
Usually, some of the solder flows into the plated-through holes. Ordinarily, any space left between a lead and a plated-through hole would be expected to be filled with solder.